the watcher

Good discussion . I've really been pondering on the anti-vax people lately. I actually know alot of them. One neighbor had fallen into the whole pro-Trump, anti everything, conspiracy crap before Covid so just naturally became anti vax. He seems perfectly okay taking cancer treatments though. His unvaccinated wife also has a debilitating auto-immune disease. I know a bright, ambitious business woman who I believe took a real punch in the gut with a business she had just opened prior to Covid. I suspect initially it was a reaction to having to shut her doors and having reduced clientele when she was allowed to reopen. She has a close friend who probably heavily influenced her as well.Just a slow slide down the rabbit hole. I know 2 who I just attribute their decision to a lack of intelligence. I know another family that is a really perplexing case. The father is one of the smartest guys I have ever dealt with. His son is a close second. They are incredible business men. Their net worth is hundreds of millions. Their company is on the New York stock exchange. The fathers wife is/ was in hospital with Covid and not doing well the last thing I heard. But they are still anti-vax. I put them down to arrogance. On a good note there can be change of hearts. The Hutterite colony beside us has decided to vaccinate. I was glad to hear it as they are really good people . Most of the rest that I mentioned will never change.

My wife worked as a healthcare aide for 20 years then retired and started doing homecare a few years ago. She now goes into homes where her clients are unmasked. Lots of times there are unmasked visitors there. Some of them aren't vaxed. She gets medical masks and was issued ONE fitted N95 just in case they answer yes to the usual quizz. Eye drops are a common need of her clients so there is lots of very close contact. She can have a dozen clients in a shift . How the hell this is being allowed is beyond me.

Stunning numbers . Eventually I think we all get it. I don't know if its avoidable. Hopefully we can string it out enough that if we need hospitalization there will be room.

I have no idea what " mandatory vaccines " means. I'd love it if every single person got vaccinated. I'm all for vaccine passports for things like sporting events and restaurants. But you can't force people to get vaccines.You can't hold them down and jab them and you can't deny them the fundamentals of Canadian life.

Call me harsh but it's one less idiot that has caused the death of gullible people. No sympathy from me at all.

True. The US justice system is and always has been all about money. If you dont have it off to jail you go. If you do , your sins are forgiven. It's rather ironic that the country that jails more people than any other has a whole segment of their population that are immune.to punishment. Edit: I just watched " Just Mercy " and a couple of Chris Hedges talks on their prison system so I readily admit to having a pretty biased opinion right now.

https://www.theguardian.com/us-news/2022/jan/05/trump-capitol-attack-democracy-election-insurrection-index An idex is being created of over 1,000 public figures involved in trying to overturn a legitimate election. It's good to see a strong pushback as the way I view, as it stands , legitimate elections in the US are highly unlikely to happen if the current path continues.

So did I miss it or are they allowing sports/ gyms/ training centers to continue ?

Friggen awesome !

The way I read it ,it was in one 24 hr period.

France is reporting 208,000 cases in a 24hr period By my calculations thats roughly 8x worse than our numbers. 1 in 312 people in France tested positive in a 24hr period. Crazy !

The latest Manitobans to succumb to #COVID19: - A Southern man in his 20s - A Southern man in his 30s - A Winnipeg man in his 30s - A Southern man in his 40s - A Southern man in his 50s - A Southern woman in her 60s - A Southern man in his 60s - A Prairie Mtn woman in her 90s 5 out of 8 are under 60. I don't remember seeing numbers like that before.

My neighbor is a pro Trump, climate change denying , anti- vaxxer who is currently undergoing cancer treatments. His wife also has a severe , debilitating auto immune disease. Neither of course are vaccinated against Covid. By the way both are University graduates. Not alot of logic there.

122,000 positive tests in the UK yesterday 22,000 in Germany Pretending any country can isolate let alone a city is ridiculous. You can't keep all " travelers " out because those travelers among other things bring you food, clothing, medicine......all the essentials of life. One of the reasons this pandemic will be around for years is because we humans have made imaginary borders that the virus ignores. There are impoverished countries that have %5 vaccination rates. When Omicron is done with us there will be another variant coming along. There are things that would help. 1- countries need to send about to expire vaccines to countries in need. It's millions of doses being thrown out. 2- The patents need to be removed from Covid vaccines. 3- A war needs to be declared against Covid. Put the multi country joint effort into killing Covid that we put into killing people. Quit viewing this as Canada, USA, UK, or whatever country you live in fighting against Covid. I'm sure there are other efforts that would help but those 3 are my suggestion.

This is an odd thing to say but take a drive to Winkler if you need to be tested. My wife and I have both been tested in the last 10 days. ( negative results ) When I went there were 3 cars at the drive through. When my wife went we were the only ones. We were a max of 10 minutes pulling in to pulling out. Maybe it's busier now but the theory in Winkler seems to be if you don't get tested you don't have Covid.

My wife and I are both triple vaxed. We will be seeing our kids and grandkids. All of them who are eligible are double or triple vaxed. I look at it this way : Covid is going nowhere. It will be here for years in my opinion. I will take whatever precautions I can but draw the line at family and close friends. I am willing to take the risk to be with my family and a few select friends. My wife works in healthcare, several of my kids are teachers. If we/ they are willing to be exposed for our jobs and money, I am willing to be exposed to socialize with them. It's just as essential in my opinion.

I don't know if this is bad news or not. Sometimes lemmings do less damage to everything around them if they run off the cliff straight away. ( and yes I know the whole lemming thing was BS )

I did. The last thing this province needs right now is someone taking a flame thrower to the government. The last thing this province needs is Glover in command.

I wish her all the best. She was just a little kid , a baby when she broke into the music scene. Those in control of her pimped her out . Sold sexual fantasies of a kid who wasn't an adult. She had no chance of a normal life. People laughed and mocked her when the inevitable issues and addictions came. Then those in control found a way to still fill their cash register and control her when she was an adult. The whole industry should be ashamed. Good luck kid is all I say. I hope it works out for you.

I think the damn thing has spread so fast it has out distanced their ability to study it

https://globalnews.ca/news/8449946/omicron-canada-r-value-rate/ Omicron appears to spread at 4x the rate of the Delta variant. And right before Christmas. Yikes !

This is not exactly politics but as I read / watched I just kept thinking of Trump in command. https://www.theguardian.com/technology/2021/dec/14/vr-game-simulating-nuclear-attack-tests-decision-making-skills

He wasn't to bad of a quest panelist actually.

Oh my God!!!

Alright D time to win a cup !